Rank group Praposhchiks | Army / Air Force Starshy praporshchik NATOequivalent OR-9a | |
Introduction 1981 to the Soviet Army | ||
Starshy praporshchik (Russian: Cтарший прапорщик; en: senior – or chief praporshchik is the highest rank of the praporshchik career group in modern days Russian Federations’ armed forces. It may still be used in other uniformed services of the Russian government such as the Police. It was introduced to the Soviet Army, January 12, 1981, parallel to Starshy michman of the Soviet Navy.
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Soviet Army and Militia
In the Soviet Army, the reintroduction of the praporshchik rank in 1972, and starshy praporshchik in 1981, along with the michman and styarshiz michmanranks in the Soviet Navy, marked the attempt to recreate a corps of contract non-commissioned officers similar to master sergeants and chief petty officers, the role that was previously reserved for senior drafted personnel. Contrary to Western practice of assigning the senior sergeant ranks to veteran soldiers, the Soviet ranks of starshina and sergeant were routinely assigned to 20-year-old soldiers at the end of their 2-year draft. The praporshchiks were aged volunteers and were expected to have more authority over draftsmen than similarly aged sergeants; they are placed in a separate category of "master non-commissioned officers" (praporshchik and michman).
In other countries
The starshina as an enlisted rank is still used in the military ranks of the Russian Federation, Bulgaria and Ukraine.